PROSPECTIVE MISSIONARY SCHOLARSHIPS
English before the mission.
Young people in Tete who are preparing to serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can apply for a scholarship to learn English at Starbridge Learning Academy. $40 a month covers one of them: three classes a week with a teacher, and practice on the Starbridge Learning Platform in between. The same $40 helps keep a returned missionary’s academy in business.
Why English before a mission
Missionaries from Mozambique can be called all over the world, and across southern and eastern Africa the working language of many missions is English. A young person who arrives already speaking it has a different first month.
Ready on day one
Training, planning and the daily work happen in the mission’s language. Arriving with English means learning the work, not the words.
Companions from anywhere
Companions and leaders may come from other countries. English is what they share.
More people to teach
With English, a missionary can serve people who don’t speak Portuguese — including at home in Mozambique.
Confidence
Talking to strangers in a second language, every day, is the job. Confidence in English is confidence in the work.
The mission ends. English doesn’t. Every country on Mozambique’s border uses English officially, Tete’s mining, energy and logistics employers work in it, and programs like BYU-Pathway Worldwide run in it. English alone creates no vacancy — it opens the door to the ones that exist.
What $40 does
One sponsorship does two jobs at once.
You give $40 a month.
It goes to the Foundation’s scholarship fund.
The Foundation pays the academy a month of tuition for a sponsored seat
the same published price any family in Tete pays. Nothing discounted, nothing marked up.
That tuition is what keeps the academy running
the teacher’s wages, Starlink, the Chromebooks, the room, and the founder’s livelihood. A returned missionary who came home with English and opened a business gets a customer, not a handout.
The Foundation takes no cut. 100% of your scholarship donation goes to the local academy operator.
Sponsored students are never more than a third of a class. The academy has to earn paying students too — otherwise it isn't a business, and the business is the point.
Why this strengthens the model
The Foundation’s model is a loan, not a stake: a returned missionary owns the academy and repays startup costs from operations. The challenging months are the first ones — a new academy carries its fixed costs from day one and fills its classrooms slowly. Sponsored seats fill the room early, at full price, with students who show up. A full room with a teacher in it is what paying families see when they walk in.
How sponsorship works
- 1
You sponsor a seat.
$40 a month, for as long as you choose.
- 2
The academy selects the scholar.
Young people apply locally. The academy looks at motivation, the planned mission date, and whether they can attend three classes a week. Scholarships continue month to month on attendance and progress.
- 3
You’re matched with a student.
Each term you'll get an update from the academy — the student's first name, the level reached, and a note on progress.
- 4
The scholarship ends when the student leaves for the mission.
When it does, you can sponsor the next one.
What we won’t do
We don’t publish applicants’ names, photos or stories for sponsors to choose from, and sponsors don’t contact students directly. Many of these students are 16 or 17.
Your gift goes to the scholarship fund, not to an individual. We match you with a student so you can follow real progress, but the Foundation and the academy decide who receives a scholarship and keep full discretion over the funds.
Whether a young person serves a mission, and where, is between them, their family and the Church. The academy teaches English; it has no part in that decision.
Common questions
What happens if I stop?
Cancel any time.
Can I sponsor more than one student?
Yes — several seats, or a whole class. Write to us and we’ll set it up.
Does a student have to be preparing for a mission?
For this scholarship, yes; that is who it was built for. The academy itself is open to anyone 16 and older.
How do I know the money reached the academy?
The academy invoices the Foundation each month for every sponsored seat, and sponsored-seat numbers are reported alongside the pilot’s other results.
More questions, including how the Foundation is organized, are answered on Get Involved.
Sponsor a student
$40 a month. Three classes a week. One young person ready for the mission — and one academy that stays open.